Comey Tapped to Lead FBI

Former Columbia Law School Lecturer-in-Law James B. Comey was recently named director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Comey, who also served as a Hertog Fellow in National Security Law and as a senior research scholar at the Law School earlier this year, was nominated by President Barack Obama for the position in June.

Comey served as deputy attorney general of the United States from 2003 to 2005. He chaired President George W. Bush’s Corporate Fraud Task Force, as well as the Presidential Board on Safeguarding Americans’ Civil Liberties, during that time. Comey is also the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and, in that role, he oversaw the prosecutions of many terrorism and financial fraud cases.

During his time in Morningside Heights, Comey worked closely with Professor Matthew C. Waxman to further enhance the Law School’s national security program. The pair created two new courses focused on national security law.